Grimm Flakes
by TheGreatWhiteNortherner
Summary: Young Ruby satisfies her curiosity about why it rains gray in her hometown. Only to learn a lot more then she bargained for and receive a nudge in the right direction for her future career. [1-shot]


Please enjoy.

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 **Grimm Flakes**

 _Written by: TheGreatWhiteNortherner_

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Light gray was everywhere. The tall buildings, the streets, the sidewalks, it was smeared across the glass and everyone walking around was covered in a layer of light gray. The color was ingrained into everything. Overhead the sky was dark and flakes of gray flitted around, carried in the ocean breeze.

The people were subdued beneath the oppressive blanket of gray and walked around like shadows. Darkness seemed to cling to them and hide their features.

A dull droning noise hung in the background from outside the street and cars sputtered as they passed. No one spoke and people kept their heads down. Amidst this bleak scene a young girl skipped happily down the street. Her boots clicked merrily on the paved sidewalk and her jubilant humming brought small smiles to anyone she passed. She added a burst of color, bringing life to the street with each footfall.

A small cape of crimson followed in her wake, while large circular headphones adorned her head. This young girl was named Ruby Rose and she chose to walk this route every day on her way home from school. Each day she hoped and prayed to be in the right place at the right time, but for nearly two months now it had never been the right time.

A shrill high pitched siren started blaring from loudspeakers at each corner. Immediately people began hustling away from the outside of the town, fleeing from the wall. Within a minute the outside streets were vacant and the sounds of people shouting and occasional gunfire erupted from the wall.

This was it, what Ruby had been hoping to catch, the weekly raid. Her headphones were silenced and hung tightly around her neck, and she dashed off to get a better view. Her actions directly violated her father's order, but she had promised herself she would witness what happened no matter the consequences. Her curiosity demanded no less.

Darting to the nearest intersection she turned towards the wall and approached it from behind. The massive barrier was constructed from millions of tons of earth, concrete and steel, and it loomed over the young girl's head standing fifteen feet tall and ten feet thick. Interspaced along its length were defense bunkers and guard towers.

Ruby scaled a nearby ladder and glanced out over the wall. She had seen the gray forest before and it didn't impress her more than previously. The thick coating of ash dyed the landscape the same miserable gray color that it did the town. She couldn't make out any movement in the forest and nothing stirred on the barren, black no man's land before the wall.

Guards streamed out of the nearby bunker and their thick ceramic armor clinked as they took up positions atop the wall. Ruby couldn't see their faces behind the full face mask's they wore but she did have to stop herself from running over to examine the weapons they toted. Each one had an oxygen pack strapped to their back and heavily insulated clothing.

As they fanned out she quickly hid in the shadow of the nearby tower and watched as several large barrels were extended from the bunker facing towards the forest. The dull droning noise that always could be heard around the wall started to intensify. A deep thrumming, whirring noise as the power generators climbed to maximum output.

More gunshots rang out from the forest and she snapped her attention back in time to see several figures come hurtling from the trees. The figure at the back turned and fire off a burst of bullets before turning and running once more. Their stalling tactic seemed to be working before a huge black beast sprang from nowhere. She watched on with large curious eyes.

The beast slammed down onto the slowest runner and Ruby's eyes went wide as she saw the creature bite down and pulp the man's head. Blood sprayed from its jaws coating the ivory mask covering the creature's face. The creature began savaging the corpse and splattered blood everywhere. The blood added splashes of crimson to the white spikes that adorned its black skinned body.

Ruby watched in horror as the wolf like monster ripped the man's intestines out and slurped them down like spaghetti. It bit again then violently shook its head sending entrails flying and its large paw sloshed in the puddle of blood beneath the dead man. Finished with its prey, the creatures fiery red eyes glared hatefully towards the others fleeing.

Ruby felt nauseous and her legs gave out beneath her. She hurled violently over the wall as she limply clutched it for support. Never in her nine years of life had she seen someone killed by a Grimm. The shock of reality was harsh and she wasn't sure if she wanted to continue to watch what would happen.

But her body would not respond and she just hung there and saw as dozen of identical creatures to the first one came barreling out from the woods. Somewhere in the back of her mind she identified them as Beowolves. The only Grimm found on the small island where she lived, Patch.

The Grimm were supernatural creatures with unknown origins. But they periodically formed in places away from civilization and when their numbers grew too great the younger ones would launch attacks wherever humans could be found. The frequency of attacks on Patch was around once a week. Ruby was finally about to witness the established countermeasures.

Like the hounds of hell the Beowolves came snarling and barking as they drew closer to the town. Those who they were chasing were just arriving and someone atop the wall had tossed down a metal rope ladder. Ruby wasn't sure why they had been in the forest, but they obviously weren't hunters.

The siren's had been echoing out across town since they started, until they suddenly fell silent. Then came the ordered commands everyone was familiar with.

"Set the groundwork!"

The loud voice came through and at his words the bunker barrels began spewing forth a reddish liquid. It was an extremely flammable combination of powdered red dust, a viscous gel substance, and crude oil. Commonly referred to as "Nitrodust". This mixture splattered all across the ground and as the Beowolves got closer it coated them in a thick slimy layer.

Then the second command came.

"Light it."

Somewhere on the wall, Ruby didn't see, someone fired a single red dust infused bullet straight into the face of the closest Beowolf. As the bullet slammed home it conjured a small spark. The spark ignited the surrounding Nitrodust and instantly a massive explosion rocked the field outside the town.

Ruby couldn't move and suddenly her breath left her, it was sucked from her lungs as all the oxygen in the area rushed forwards to feed the humongous roaring firestorm. For a moment Ruby imagined her life had come to an end and she was about to suffocate. Only for her to draw in a desperate, thin breath as more oxygen rushed passed to reach the fire.

The flames soared upwards and an intense wave of heat washed over the wall. Ruby's lips chapped and split, dribbling blood down her chin as all the moisture in the air evaporated. Her eyes burned as she had stared dumbly at the roaring flame. Her hair frayed and her skin felt hot and itchy under the overwhelming heat wave.

The flames spit and crackled as they burned out of control just outside of the town. The inferno scorched the earth and Ruby wondered if the world would not come to an end soon. Had her father wanted to shield her from the side effects of being near this? Or was he more afraid of her being so close to Grimm?

High pitched yelps split the sound of the flames and Ruby dared to peak over the wall and watched as the Grimms ran around aflame. The Nitrodust stuck to their skin and melted through it. As the conflagration died down, The Grimms were all dead now and Ruby watched as their flesh melted from their skeleton.

Liquid black puddles of Grimm dotted the landscape. Their gray skeletons littered the ground. The fire may have died down but it was still going and intensely hot. A horrifying sound filtered through her senses, one among many she encountered that day. The bones were cracking from the heat and Ruby was startled when they began shattering wholesale.

A gust of wind whipped through the flame and Ruby suddenly realized in sick understanding as storm of gray flakes was blown from the breaking bones. 'The town is literally covered in Grimm bone flakes!' Ruby screamed in her head. 'This is what father didn't want me to know.'

And indeed, the town was named Ashville for the thick layer of gray ash that covered everything. Ruby had always figured it had something to do with the large fires she knew they used to kill Grimms. But in her head it had always been wood ash, or some other carbonized fuel. Not charcoaled Grimm bones.

As fresh ash landed on her face Ruby recalled every time she had accidentally caught some on her tongue or inhaled the debris. She nearly fainted against the railing as she fiercely vomited once more. While beneath the wall the generators began powering down to their minimum.

The guards along the wall took several pot shots at the few surviving Beowolves on the forest edge. They died due to the sheer number of guards laying into them. Their bodies would soon dissipate and return to wherever they came from. The Grimm flakes would remain however as they were no longer considered part of a Grimm, they had been altered too much by the flames.

Several Bullhead VTOL aircraft passed overhead the simmering flames and dropped large quantities of water to finish the fire. Acrid smoke poured from the dying flames. Someone cast a green dust infused wind spell in a small attempt at redirecting the Grimm flakes away from the town. The guards began filing into the bunker and Ruby remained alone on the wall.

She just stared at the huge swath of scorched ground that surrounded the town. Eventually the sun set and Ruby remained until the moon shone bright overhead and she turned her gaze up and took solace in the peaceful image.

Her grumbling stomach is what finally tore her away from the wall. She trudged slowly back through the streets, on course to return home. She had been thinking hard for a long time. After she got over how gross the Grimm flakes were and resolved to never ever inhale one again, Ruby thought deeply about how she had watched a man die today.

Death was an everyday part of life in Remnant. Ruby understood this. Her own mother had died years ago serving as a huntress. She would soon be able to apply for combat school and she would likely join her sister attending Signal Academy here on Patch. However she wasn't certain becoming a huntress was what she wanted.

Until today that is. Her driving force had been to follow in her families footsteps and to become an awesome hero just like in the stories Yang used to read her. But now she had another reason. A reason she felt was much less selfish and childish then her others. She wanted to become a huntress so that she could save people.

If she was a huntress she could have saved the man who the Grimm caught today. She could have saved a life. Watching that man be torn apart had shown her the viciousness of the Grimm. She learned that no one died kindly under the Grimm, and so now she wanted to do everything in her power to fight the Grimm and save people.

Her eyebrows were drawn together in concentration and Ruby scowled as she continued to walk and think such heavy thoughts. Just as she was finalizing her conclusion her nose smashed into a wooden door and she realized she had arrived home.

She reached out to grab the knob and when she opened it Yang was standing there eyes wide and puffy. Tears leaked down her face and she turned back and yelled. "Dad! Dad, come quick. Ruby's back!"

Heavy footsteps pounded down on their tile floor and a huge man came barreling down the hallway. He was set on a collision course for his youngest daughter. Before Ruby even realized it she was swept from her feet and crushed in her father's immensely strong hug.

"Oh Ruby, oh dust, Ruby you're safe," he spoke quietly. "Thank dust you're alright."

"Dad. I want to enroll in Signal," Ruby said. Her father set her down from his embrace.

Yang and her father looked at her in uncertainty. They had expected Ruby to say a lot of different things, but not that. Especially after coming home late at night when there had been a Grimm attack earlier. "What's this about Signal, Ruby? No forget that for a minute, where were you today? Why didn't you come home on time?" he asked.

"I want to be a huntress Dad. I want to save people, I want to be a hero, and I don't want anyone else to have to eat Grimm flakes ever again," Ruby replied.

Yang stared at her confused, 'Grimm flakes?' She had no idea.

Her father however, knew exactly what she meant. He realized what she had seen and sighed heavily. "You're way too curious for your own good. And you could've seriously gotten hurt. Accidents happen on the wall all the time. Nitrodust is very hard to keep contained not to mention the Grimm," he said. "But if what you saw today has motivated you, has inspired you, then ok. I will make sure you can get into Signal. But becoming a huntress is all up to you."

Ruby smiled and hugged her father. "I promise Dad. I'll become the best huntress ever. And I won't let anyone die in front of me again," she said.

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Just a story I made when I applied the idea of "Kill it with fire" to RWBY.

I hope you enjoyed reading. If you see any mistakes please PM me about it so I can fix them. Thanks.


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